Our allergist vet was a clinical trial vet for Apoquel and Finn, our male Westie who is insanely itchy, he was a trial dog for this drug. He got the injection form and the itch vanished for a good 8 weeks. When Apoquel came out, it is in pill form which did nothing for Finn's itch. So both dogs continue on Zyrtec, which was specifically formulated to address allergic itch.
OMG. The paw cysts. I can't tell you how much money and tears have been expended on the paw cysts for Maggie, our female with the replaced hips. We can't let her get an infection or let one rage, because it would go right to the prostheses and then we'd have to euthanize her. So we get paw cysts with her starting in spring and going through fall. Years and years of this, $$$$$, heartache.
Recurrent paw cysts: I so feel ya here. Antibiotics. Douxo pads. Douxo spray. Aggressive trimming of hair in the paws. Douxo pad followed by Virbac ResiKetoChlor (this did some good, you might try this combo hit to the paws).
Here's what the allergist vet has us do for recurrent the paw cysts:
Bleach bath.
You stand the dog in the sink or bathing tub in a water/bleach solution.
You have to keep the dog from licking the water of course. They should stand in it for anywhere from 5-10 minutes optimally.
Lemme look up the ratio the allergist vet gave us. Will get back to you.
For the nonpaw skin, Jake's Remedy did a good job for us---its available online from Frogworks. I also had some good luck with it on the paws.
Also, the cysts. We found that Maggie has an unusual anatomy to her paws in that she has some cave-like or occult pouches in there that harbor bacteria because its hidden away. Check your dog's paws realkly really carefully for these. Once we started going after those pouch-like areas, we had good success with the topicals. Both vets, the internist and allergist, said that the prevailing wisdom used to be that topicals were only to make owners feel like they were doing something but time and clinical trials are showing that topicals are actually the best therapy of all.
This November, I finally got really mad about these recurrent cysts and I INSISTED the vet give me mupirocin ointment for the paws.
Its the first treatment that completely resolved the cysts. Haven't had any since. If you get to the end of your rope or the dog does, insist on this. Some vets are resistant to prescribing it because they view it as the last veterinary antibiotic that has not had resistance shown.
OMG. The paw cysts. I can't tell you how much money and tears have been expended on the paw cysts for Maggie, our female with the replaced hips. We can't let her get an infection or let one rage, because it would go right to the prostheses and then we'd have to euthanize her. So we get paw cysts with her starting in spring and going through fall. Years and years of this, $$$$$, heartache.
Recurrent paw cysts: I so feel ya here. Antibiotics. Douxo pads. Douxo spray. Aggressive trimming of hair in the paws. Douxo pad followed by Virbac ResiKetoChlor (this did some good, you might try this combo hit to the paws).
Here's what the allergist vet has us do for recurrent the paw cysts:
Bleach bath.
You stand the dog in the sink or bathing tub in a water/bleach solution.
You have to keep the dog from licking the water of course. They should stand in it for anywhere from 5-10 minutes optimally.
Lemme look up the ratio the allergist vet gave us. Will get back to you.
For the nonpaw skin, Jake's Remedy did a good job for us---its available online from Frogworks. I also had some good luck with it on the paws.
Also, the cysts. We found that Maggie has an unusual anatomy to her paws in that she has some cave-like or occult pouches in there that harbor bacteria because its hidden away. Check your dog's paws realkly really carefully for these. Once we started going after those pouch-like areas, we had good success with the topicals. Both vets, the internist and allergist, said that the prevailing wisdom used to be that topicals were only to make owners feel like they were doing something but time and clinical trials are showing that topicals are actually the best therapy of all.
This November, I finally got really mad about these recurrent cysts and I INSISTED the vet give me mupirocin ointment for the paws.
Its the first treatment that completely resolved the cysts. Haven't had any since. If you get to the end of your rope or the dog does, insist on this. Some vets are resistant to prescribing it because they view it as the last veterinary antibiotic that has not had resistance shown.